Thursday, October 6, 2011

ATTENTION LIBERALS....SENATE REFORM IS NOT OUR ISSUE

So as soon
as I suggested that Premier Alward's economic approach was stuck in the 1970's,
the man shows a determination to prove me wrong. The premier has now identified
the business of electing
senators is his top priority. This clearly shows that the premier can
update his thinking, because Senate reform is an issue from the early 1990s.
For some, this would be nostalgia; for the Alward Conservatives, this is
actually progress.

Some
commentators have suggested that the Premier's new agenda means that Liberals
need to scurry over to this new topic and be prepared to debate this agenda.
Some Liberals have joined in. But I'm here to tell you, as Prince said, there's something else.

First of
all, before New Brunswick joins in full-throated support of Stephen Harper's
old Reform agenda for federalism, let's remember WHY conservatives love Senate
Reform.

Forget the
old canard about regional representation. In different times, when
politicians worked more across the aisles in Ottawa, having twenty-four
senators instead of ten MP's may have mattered. Today, in the partisan circus
in Ottawa, federal politicians are a function of their party’s central command,
supporting and spouting the lines from their leaders. The quality and
independent thought of our representative’s matter. The number of seats that
can swing and decide who becomes Prime Minister may affect platforms. But
anyone who thinks senators would form post-partisan regional blocs to defend
the same issues regardless of political stripe is dreaming in
technicolour.

The real reason
conservatives want a second elected chamber is because it will render the national
government even more ponderous and dysfunctional, which is a good thing if, like
Stephen Harper, you want a national government whose entire agenda consists of
national defense and locking up young offenders. Watching President Obama's
mandate to create a national health care plan for a nation that had millions
without health coverage is instructive -- if you want to slow down the creation
of national social programs and new shared endeavors, you'll love having two
elected chambers squabbling over every step forward.

It's
rational for conservatives to want divided government. It's crazy for
Liberals and progressives. And for New Brunswickers, it is irrational.
New Brunswick benefits from having national standards in social programs.
In a decentralized Canada, wealthier provinces can use their advantage to slash
taxes and start a race to the bottom where New Brunswick will lose. Having a
minimum safety net that every province has to maintain keeps social programs
safe, and a weak national government can't do that. Sometimes, putting New
Brunswick first also means putting Canada first.

But, of
course, the best way to deal with Premier Alward's sudden passion for constitutional
minutiae is to let him have it. In a province where unemployment has never been
lower than the day before he took office, where too many kids still struggle to
read and too many parents are trapped in poverty, and where our Premier says
things are so dire that we simply have to let environmental concerns go,
families are not going to reward politicians who want to return to a debating
society on Canadian federalism.

In the New
Brunswick Legislature, there's a beautiful room upstairs where committees meet.
Sharp-eyed observers will notice an old speaker's chair at the back. It's there
because that room used to be our Provincial Senate, which was a second chamber.
While New Brunswick is a bilingual province of diverse regions, I can think of
no time when any serious person has suggested that the common good in jobs,
schools or public safety would be immediately improved if we restored the New
Brunswick Senate. We haven't missed it, and neither would Canada. To borrow a
tongue-in-cheek quote from John Crosbie, a Triple E Senate isn't as good an
idea as a Triple A Senate.... arthritic, alcoholic and abolished.

Come on,
Liberals. We have a solid history and the right ideas for the future on
jobs, education, and social progress. Falling in the polls, David Alward has
every reason to distract New Brunswickers from these issues. Let's just make
sure he doesn't distract us.